WHAT is going on? Why is this happening in Cebu?
These were some of the laments posted on social media by netizens alarmed by the recent rash of violence involving the province’s youth.
Barely a month after the mutilated body of 16-year-old Christine Lee Silawan was found in Lapu-Lapu City, two girls, aged 13 and 14, were allegedly raped by their companions in Sitio Banawa, Barangay Guadalupe, Cebu City over the weekend.
The uproar is understandable.
After all, the Silawan case is far from over.
Authorities may have in custody the victim’s 17-year-old ex-boyfriend as a suspect, but that’s about it. The other persons involved, and there might have been five altogether, are still at large.
You could say the two girls in Banawa were lucky to be alive to tell the tale.
I know it may sound morbid, but they are. Really.
In fact, they should count themselves very lucky they weren’t beaten. They weren’t strangled. They didn’t have acid poured on their faces.
It was not as if they had come from church to serve as collectors during mass when the attack allegedly took place.
Oh no.
One netizen who seemed distraught by the latest incident started blaming the alleged rape on the culture of violence and misogyny perpetuated under the Duterte administration.
Okay. I get that she’s no fan of our current president. That she’s not too happy about the rising toll in this government’s war against criminality.
And maybe she’s right. After all, we do have a leader who likes to call the mothers of his critics whores.
But then it’s easier to use the government as a scapegoat for society’s ills instead of admitting to be part of the problem, isn’t it?
I’m not saying that the 13-year-old and the 14-year-old girls were asking for “it.” I mean, how could they? But apparently, they were having a drinking binge with the suspects, who, police said, were their friends before the alleged sexual assault took place last Saturday night (April 6).
I’m not saying that no sex took place. Blood was found on the 13-year-old girl’s shorts when she was checked at the hospital. Nothing, though, was said about her 14-year-old companion.
According to the report, one of the alleged rapists is 15 and the other, his cousin, is 22.
At that age, something was bound to happen. And the girls were probably too drunk to fend off the boys’ advances.
To be honest, I don’t find that shocking. Sad, yes, but shocking? No.
I was more alarmed that girls that age were out late at night. Getting drunk. With members of the opposite sex.
Although, I’m pretty sure many netizens don’t see it that way.